Silencing of God: The Dismantling of America's Christian Heritage, Dave Miller

Silencing of God: The Dismantling of America's Christian Heritage, Dave Miller

I have heard of Dave Miller’s DVD “The Silencing of God” but have only recently viewed it. I was able to get a preview at a Bible Reading Marathon conducted by the Toledo Road Church of Christ of Lorain, Ohio at the Black River Amphitheatre with the Scriptures being read by teenagers over a 24-hour period where Brother Miller was able to speak at this event. While he and I were discussing our concern about the direction our country is being pushed, I asked brother Miller if he thought about putting this material in book form so people could communicate these vital facts documenting our nation’s Christian heritage with others as they are able more easily. I was delighted to hear that a coffee table full-color edition of the book had just been published. As the adult class where we attend began viewing the DVD, I ordered a copy of this book for the church library. It is an excellent product both from content and the attractive quality of printing.

Those who know me personally know I attempt to keep up on national politics and the forces that are attempting to take us further away from God. So, the material in the DVD was not a total shock to me. What was surprising to me is the voluminous efforts early leaders made to ensure all knew our county was established to be a Christian nation—monuments, money, manuscripts, correspondence, speeches, mottos, oaths, songs, constitutions—Federal and States, etc. I often hear people say the United States is not a Christian nation and was never designed to be one. That the Founding Fathers desired to establish a secular government that merely tolerates various religions. I knew before watching the DVD that was absurdly FALSE. The Founding Fathers wrote the First Amendment to protect religious freedom as opposed to the sinister twisting of the phrase, “a wall of separation between church and state,” in a letter by Thomas Jefferson to a Baptist association to reassure them that the Federal Government would not interfere with religion to restrict the exercise of religion. I am alarmed that some fail to realize the Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments, were written to preserve individual freedom from government interference. Particularly alarming is that few seem to realize that the freedom of the Press and Religion go together—these two are both in the First Amendment. Ask yourselves, “If the Press was being treated by the Federal Government the same way Christianity is, would they tolerate it?” It is a highly relevant question! 

What I learned from the DVD is just how overtly the Founding Fathers and early leaders were in favor of New Testament Christianity. Sometimes people like to refer to our “Judeo-Christian Heritage”; however, the Founding Fathers were more specific to our Christian Heritage. They pointed out that we are a tolerant Nation because of, not in spite of, New Testament Christianity. The degree to which they expressed this was rather eye-opening to me. One of the quotes I vividly remember was by John Jay, the first Chief Justice of the first U.S. Supreme Court. The early founders of our Nation were not shy about affirming the importance of Christianity to the preservation of the Nation. John Jay wrote about supporting infidel (non-Christians) leaders:

Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers. It is the duty, as well as the privilege and interest, of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.—Page 89.

Some refuse to be involved in politics in any way and prefer to avoid all discussion on this subject; however, political and societal forces are pushing churches into areas that we cannot support; e.g., accepting the homosexual lifestyle and using our tax dollars to fund abortions. If we do not use our rights to make Christ’s views, which must be our views, on these two subjects clear to our leaders, then we will lose these two battles. And these two highly activist lobbies will not be interested in letting the church exempt herself. I wish we could continue in the luxury on relying on others to shoulder the political fight so we can focus solely on spreading the gospel, but we cannot. We must devote resources in this struggle too, or our ability to spread the gospel may be severely hindered. If we do not bow to our knees in prayer to God, we may find our knees forced to the ground against our wills and then we will be willing to pray to God but it will be a cry out to God in despair.

I found the words of President James A. Garfield, a member of the Christian Church, to be worthy of adoption:

Now, more than ever before, the people are responsible for the character of their Congress. If that body be ignorant, reckless, and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness, and corruption. If it be intelligent, brave, and pure, it is because the people demand these high qualities to present them in national legislature…. If the next centennial does not find us a great nation…it will be because those who represent the enterprise, the culture, and the morality of the nation do not aid in controlling the political forces.—Page 89.

It is time for Christians to be “strong in the strength which God supplies thru His beloved Son.”

The Gospel for Today – An Extended Edition of the Certified Gospel, Foy E. Wallace, Jr.

The Gospel for Today – An Extended Edition of the Certified Gospel, Foy E. Wallace, Jr.

One may find it puzzling why a book of sermons would endure after many years. This usually speaks to two factors—the deliverer and the message. In this case, Foy E. Wallace, Jr. delivered a series of lessons in a gospel meeting in Port Arthur, TX in 1937 which were released in book form and entitled The Certified Gospel. Due to the book’s enduring popularity and increased demand for the preaching of brother Wallace, it was expanded to its present format, The Gospel for Today which was released thirty years later. Today, over seventy years after the original release, it remains one of my personal favorites, even though the expanded version was released just a few months after I was born. I never had the privilege of knowing Wallace; however, my father inspired me from his recollections of days at the Nashville School of Preaching where he heard stories about brother Wallace and was able to watch him preach. I have been blessed to know his youngest son, Wilson and his wife Peggy. They are a delight to visit with and if you have the pleasure of their company to discuss his father, cherish it!

The message of the book is timeless—gospel sermons. We need more straight-from-the-book gospel preaching. Young preachers would do well to obtain brother Wallace’s preaching books. Now, brother Wallace packed so much material in his sermons that one may likely find multiple sermons from just one chapter of the book. Brother Wallace was known for preaching well over an hour or more. People travelled well over 100 miles just to hear him speak one night! There are sermons here we need to continually ring forth from our pulpits—“The Certified Gospel”, “Who Wrote the Bible”, “How and When the Church Began”, “What to Do to Be Saved”, “What Must the Church Do To Be Saved”, “The Sin of Sectarianism”, “Bible Baptism” and others.

My personal favorite from this work is “Why Send for Peter?” I wish every member of the church would read this sermon or their preacher would preach it to them or both! In this lesson brother Wallace deals with several miraculous manifestations including the appearances of an angel to Peter and Cornelius and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Cornelius’ house. Brother Wallace points out the significance of these events and we do well to remember these. For example, Wallace writes concerning the angel which appeared to Cornelius and God’s plan that men preach the gospel, not angels or the Holy Spirit directly:

But why did the angel not tell him [Cornelius] what to do to be saved? Because that is not God’s plan. Angels cannot preach the gospel to men. Cornelius might have said to the angel: “Now, I am ready to do what God commands, why send for Peter, when you are here already; just let Peter stay in Joppa, and let me stay in Caesarea, and avoid three days delay—just tell me what God would have me do.” If ever the gospel plan should vary under any circumstances, would this not have been the one time when it should have varied enough for an angel to tell a man what to do to be saved? (Page 164).

Brother Wallace expands the lesson to point out some additional important points of which we must not lose sight:

We have now learned the purpose of all three of the miracles in this case. First, the appearance of the angel to Cornelius—that was miracle No. 1, and its purpose was to inform Cornelius where to find the preacher. Second, the vision at Joppa—which was miracle No. 2, and its purpose was to show Simon Peter that he should go and preach to the Gentiles. Third, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the household of Cornelius—Miracle No. 3, the purpose of which was to convince the whole Jewish church that the Gentiles were acceptable to God as gospel subjects. (Page 168).

One will not agree with everything brother Wallace writes. He was not perfect and he made mistakes—we all do. We should keep these matters in mind but never let his great accomplishments and writings go unnoticed. People have and still do criticize the man when his name is brought up, but let them show forth their works for the kingdom and see how these set in the balance with brother Wallace’s labors for the Kingdom. Sadly, many of us may find ourselves more akin to Belshazzar than Foy E. Wallace, Jr.